Been Here Before?
by Janiqua
Summary: This is a short alternate ending to Chris Crossed. When Chris returns from the future with a bad wound from Wyatt, Phoebe channels his pain. ONESHOT!


This one's all for Chris! I hope you all enjoy! Feel welcome to review and tell me what you think. It's the shortest fic I've ever written in my life and I wanna know if it's good!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything! Just this alternate ending to one of my favorite episodes!

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"_Power of the witches rise, come to me from across the skies. Return my magic, give me back, all that was taken from the attack."_

It returned to him. Chris could feel it flowing back into his blood and running through his veins. They hadn't let him down. They might not trust him, but he realized as his body glowed with blue white light that even if they didn't trust him, even now, they were still compelled them to help him. They hadn't let him down. And neither had Bianca.

She suddenly let out a sharp cry. Chris looked up from the paper from which he had read his spell to see that Wyatt had broken free from Bianca's hold. And as for Bianca...

"No!" Chris shrieked as he saw her body collide heavily against a broken table. A sharp piece of what was once a leg of that table tore into her back and ripped its way through her chest.

If Wyatt had noticed this, he didn't care. His attention was focused entirely on the younger boy. He started angrily towards Chris.

Tears formed in the young half Whitelighter's eyes, who couldn't bear to look away from Bianca, and he threw up his arm, forcing twenty one years of anger, despair, confusion, hate, and love out of his heart, mind, and body, directing it all towards Wyatt. The power of that one blast was like nothing Wyatt had ever seen coming from his little brother, and he definitely hadn't been prepared for it. It sent him flying both backwards and upwards. He collided into an old lantern, and sparks of electricity thundered around him. Landing heavily on the floor, for a moment he was too disoriented and shocked to move.

Chris wasted no time in rushing to Bianca's side. Impaled as she was on the table leg, she could sense the life draining out of her, and she had a look of acceptance on her face. Chris couldn't stand that, and he repeatedly told her "no" under his breath, hoping to convince her to stay.

Bianca looked up at Chris and smiled at him painfully. He was awkwardly holding his hands over her wound, instinctively wanting to heal her – to take her pain away – but having no idea how to do that. He was only half Whitelighter. Wyatt was the one with the real power. Chris was just… the weak one.

"No," he shook his head, tears filling his eyes as he gazed at her. She stared into those eyes, and he could see her silently asking for forgiveness. He hoped that she could see how he did forgive her. He would always forgive her.

"Haven't we been here before?" she asked him, her voice soft, ragged, but as beautiful as it had been the day he had fallen in love with her.

"Maybe we will be again," he told her, hoping beyond the level of hope he had ever felt before that they could be.

"Maybe," her voice was softer even still.

More tears flooded into his eyes as he felt the helplessness consuming him. He shook his head slightly before bringing it down to rest on hers. "No."

Bianca gently pressed something into Chris's hand. He moved far enough away from her to see what it was. Their ring. In the darkness and dullness that this world was full of to the rim, this one ring seemed to glow with its own silver light. A fresh light. A hopeful, magical, binding light.

Breathing came difficultly for her now, but she still managed to speak. "If you can finish what we started-" her voice nearly broke, and that broke Chris's heart. Not far away, Wyatt was blinking rapidly, moving slowly, overcoming the shock of Chris's unexpected show of power.

"Hurry," Bianca pleaded. Chris glanced over at his big brother, and saw that Wyatt was getting onto his hands and knees, shaking the disorientation out of his system. The younger boy looked back at Bianca, unwilling to leave her side, even now. He couldn't. He couldn't bring himself to part from her.

"Take the spell so he can't send anyone else," Bianca told him. Even in her death she could still think clearly and still wanted to protect him. When she looked into his eyes, she could see how he loathed the thought of leaving her. Her eyes darkened for a moment, full of the stubborn determination he had grown to both admire and resent... but always love.

"Go!"

Chris could barely breathe, but somehow he managed to nod his head. He turned and bolted back to where he had left the _Book of Shadows_.

Wyatt saw the movement, and forced himself to look up. When he saw his brother flipping through the _Book_, he felt both alarm and fury build up inside him. He would _not_ allow Chris to escape! He climbed up onto his feet.

"_Hear these words, hear the rhyme,"_ Chris chanted as Wyatt powered up an energy ball. _"Heed the hope within my mind."_ Chris sensed the ball and looked up to see Wyatt hurling it at him. He quickly ducked out of the way. When the danger was past, he looked back at the page in the _Book. "Send me back to where I'll find what I wish in place and time."_

Chris instantly looked to where the triquetra had been drawn on the attic wall. It flashed with a radiant blue white light as the portal opened. Chris did not spare Wyatt a glance as he tore the page out of the _Book of Shadows_ and ran towards the portal.

Wyatt powered up another energy ball and once again hurled it at his little brother. This time it met its mark, and Chris let out a terrible shout as he nevertheless managed to fall through the portal.

A flood of light surrounded him. The pain in the back of his left shoulder pulsated and stung as if it had been burned – which it had been. The journey to the past did not take long at all. A moment later the light distinguished, and Chris felt himself falling. Falling. His body twisted, and he landed heavily on his back in the attic of the Halliwell Manor.

"Whoa!" Piper spun around in surprise when she sensed the Whitelighter. Leo, Paige, and Phoebe were not too far behind in following.

"Oh my God," Paige whispered when she saw him. "Are you okay?"

"What kind of question is that?" Phoebe demanded, instantly on her knees at Chris's side. She gently touched his shoulder, staring at the wound on the back of it. Already it was spreading both down his back and up onto his neck. The torn cloth of his shirt was still slightly smoking from the heat of the energy. "He's been hit by an energy ball," she informed her sisters, looking up at Leo with fear in her eyes. "He needs help!"

Leo, though as calm as he always seemed to be, was also obviously concerned for the boy. He wasted no time in joining Phoebe at Chris's side. They gently turned him over and Leo got a good look at the wound. As he placed his hands over it, he looked up at Phoebe. "He's lucky."

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked as golden light washed over Chris and the wound began to heal and fade.

"Whoever did this to him hit him with an incredibly low voltage energy ball," Leo stated. "If you put the level of power energy balls come in on a scale of one to ten, I'd say this one was a negative five."

"Negative five, huh?" Paige looked impressed. "Damn, I'd hate to see a ten, if that's the case."

The wound healed, but even still, a red mark remained on Chris's neck and shoulder. The golden light dissipated, and Leo stared at the mark in worry. "That's the best I can do."

Chris curled up onto his knees, placing his head on the ground as if he were kneeling prostrate before them. His body started shaking as he began to sob. He couldn't look at them. Any of them. He hated them for seeing him like this. Ever since he had come into the past, he'd been locking his emotions inside of him, intent on his mission, too focused with demon hunting to even think about his own pain. He never once even stopped to wonder about how the Charmed Ones must see him – a Whitelighter with no feelings. That was how he had wanted it. He didn't want them to see him like this. They must think it out of character for him... Shedding tears.

But as he sat huddled there, he couldn't get the image of Bianca out of his mind. He couldn't stop picturing that piece of wood impaling her… killing her. And Wyatt… His own brother! Responsible for it! Chris had never been more ashamed in his life. Ashamed of the brother he had. And ashamed of how he couldn't even face that brother. Not even now.

"Chris."

Piper. His mother. Chris had been living in the past for months now, but even still, the sound of his mother's voice often made his heart beat twenty thousand times faster. He choked at the sound of it, and more tears filled his eyes.

"Chris, look at me," Piper was kneeling in front of him, between Phoebe and Leo. Her voice was gentle, but always strong and firm. Chris couldn't help but obey. He looked up at her, and could see concern expressed on her face. "Who did this to you?"

Chris immediately looked away from her. He couldn't answer. Not because of future consequences, because at that moment he didn't give a damn about future consequences. Bianca was dead! No. He couldn't answer because he couldn't tell her that Wyatt, her own son, had done this to him.

"Piper, maybe this should wait for later," Phoebe whispered, always the one, even here in the past, to want to shelter him.

"Phoebe, you heard Leo," Piper replied, as firmly as ever. "Whoever did this hit Chris with a very, very weak energy ball. That means that whoever it was wants Chris alive. He probably only attacked Chris to knock him down or something. Which also means that he or she or whoever is going to try coming back to get him again. Which means this isn't over." Piper looked down at Chris. "We need to know what to expect if we're going to protect you."

Piper's words brought fresh fear into Chris's heart. Would Wyatt find another way to come after him? Bianca had said he had gone through a lot of trouble to get his brother back. Would he go through even more? He shivered, and struggled to breathe. Once again he saw the image of Bianca… painfully losing her life.

"…Bianca…" Chris clenched his eyes shut as more pain washed over him. He had lost loved ones before… but this...

"Bianca?" Piper looked over at Leo in concern before turning back to Chris. "Did she do this to you?"

"No," Chris shook his head. "He killed her…" He couldn't stop the words from leaving him. Holding it inside was too much to bear.

"What?" Paige stared down at the group huddled on the floor. Her breath caught in her throat.

Phoebe and Leo caught each other's gazes and they held for a moment. Piper, however, couldn't look away from Chris.

"Who killed her?" she demanded. She hadn't known Bianca for more than five minutes. The assassin witch had fought against them to get Chris back, and had held a knife to Piper's own throat. Bianca had been strong and skilled. But at the same time, she and Chris had loved each other. Piper knew too well what it was like to lose someone you both relied on and loved more than anyone else.

"I… can't…" Chris whispered.

"No," Piper disagreed. "I'm not accepting that this time, young man. Tell us the truth now. You told me you came into the past to save my son. You never mentioned anything about having a bad guy chase after you with the intentions of killing your girlfriend and keeping you alive for whatever reason. Now I know enough to know that somehow this all ties together, you are going to tell me how Chris, so that we can make sure you are kept safe and so that this doesn't happen again."

At that moment, and without any warning, Phoebe's powers suddenly kicked into effect. She had only become an Empath a few weeks after Chris had become their Whitelighter, and since then, she had only sensed emotion from Chris once or twice. But now she felt it again, and it tore brutally into her heart.

She cried out in pain, pushing herself to her feet and stumbling backwards, away from the half Whitelighter. Paige, Chris, and Leo all looked up at her in surprise, even as Piper stood up to face her little sister as well.

Phoebe's face was twisted in anguish, her hands both covering her mouth as she stared at Chris with tears spilling down her cheeks.

Chris looked up at her and slowly shook his head. "Aun-" he stopped himself before that word took form with any real meaning. He couldn't stand the thought of them seeing him like this. The thought of one of them sharing what he felt was even more intolerable. He couldn't bear the thought of Phoebe suffering his pain. He had to end the connection. And to do that, he forced himself to orb out of the Manor, and as far away from it as he could.

Immediately, his absence ended it. His emotions drained out of Phoebe, but her strength drained out with them. She stumbled forward slightly, and Leo was immediately on his feet and at her side, catching her.

"Oh my God," Phoebe whispered as her tears still continued to fall with the memory of how intense his emotions had been. "Oh my God."

"Phoebe?" Piper asked as Paige stepped towards them. As the youngest Halliwell and the Elder supported the Empath, Piper picked up Wyatt off the ground, and they slowly made their way out of the attic.

OOOOOOOOOO

"I… haven't felt anything like that… since Cole," Phoebe whispered as Leo and Paige helped her sit down on her bed. She looked up at the Elder and her sisters. "He's in so much pain. He loved her. He forgave her. And then she was taken from him. And then he felt betrayal. I don't know what happened in the future or who killed Bianca, but whoever it was… It's killing Chris on the inside."

Piper looked out Phoebe's window. "I wish I knew. I wish I had some idea of what's going on. Of what's going to happen to Wyatt that'll result in whatever's happened to Chris."

"It hasn't happened yet, Piper," Paige reminded her older sister. "Whatever it is, we're going to stop it from happening. Wherever the Chris from our time is right now, if he's even alive yet… we'll save him from whatever the future is supposed to bring, because we're going to fix it."

"I hope so," Leo whispered.

"Leo," Phoebe turned her gaze up to her brother-in-law. "I know you haven't brought yourself to trust Chris, but… you really should. He's not the bad guy here. If anything, he's our Innocent. He's just trying… Trying so hard… You need to just understand."

Leo nodded. "I know."

OOOOOOOOO

Twenty four hours had past since she had died. Chris sat at the end of a dock at the harbor, staring out towards the water, the boats that drifted on it, and the birds, and the sunset. The pain wouldn't leave. It burned. Just like when his mom had died. Only this was worse. Wyatt hadn't killed their mom. Why did he kill Bianca? And why did he use such a low voltage energy ball against Chris? The attack had hit the younger brother fairly. He should be dead right now. But Piper was right. Wyatt hadn't wanted to kill him. Just knock him down. Why? Chris should be dead. He should be with Bianca. He wanted to be with Bianca. He couldn't stop picturing her in his mind. He needed her so badly. He needed her so badly that he could barely breathe. No. He _couldn't_ breathe.

"Chris?"

The half Whitelighter glanced over his shoulder to see Phoebe walking out onto the dock, towards him. Phoebe. The first sister he had encountered when he traveled back in time the first time around. The one sister who had always been there for him in the future. The one who had been his best friend, before she too, had died.

"You shouldn't be here," Chris told her as she sat down beside him. "I haven't gotten my... feelings under control yet. You might accidentally channel them again."

"Chris, we've all been worried sick about you," Phoebe scolded gently. "We've been calling you for hours."

"Couldn't Leo sense me?" Chris asked, mildly surprised.

Phoebe rolled her eyes dramatically. "_Oh_ yeah. Problem is he's sensing so much pain emanating out of you and spreading across the entire city that he can't even begin pinpointing a precise location. We had no idea where to _begin_ looking for you."

"Well you don't have to worry," Chris told her stoically. "I'm fine."

"Got that right," Phoebe agreed. "Frustrated, Insecure, Neurotic, and Emotional. That's what Grams told me once when I was eight and my puppy ran away."

Chris glanced at her, tears shining in his eyes. "What do you want?"

Phoebe stared at him seriously. "I want the truth. Who did this to you?" She reached out to him and gently pushed the collar of his shirt down a ways to see his neck and shoulder. The red mark had faded some in the hours that had passed, but it was still there. Chris watched her grimace as she imagined the pain of the injury.

"It doesn't hurt," he assured her. "It'll fade entirely in a few more days. He's hit me with worse before."

"_He_?" Phoebe looked straight into his eyes. "Who is '_he'_? How long has _he_ been abusing you?"

"Pretty much my entire life," Chris replied honestly. "I can't really get into it..."

"Chris, you can trust me," Phoebe assured him. "I'm not just an Empath, but I've been getting premonitions since I became a witch. The future is my power. You don't have to worry about future consequences where I'm concerned."

"That's not it..." he said. "It's just that I don't want to tell you. Not this. It hurts so much."

"Okay," Phoebe took a short breath, and nodded in understanding. "I get that. Just a few more questions, I promise. Does he have anything to do with Wyatt?"

"Everything," Chris nodded. "That's why it's so important that I protect him. I have to... save him. Even if that's all I ever do."

"Did you know us?" Phoebe asked. "In your future, I mean."

"Yeah," Chris nodded again, and looked back out over the San Francisco harbor. "We knew each other."

"If the sisters in your future knew what you were doing for them right now," Phoebe said softly. "With the manipulation and the deception, how would they react to it?"

"They'd probably kick my ass," Chris told her honestly. "But then they'd forgive me. I'm doing this for you, Phoebe. For your family." He smiled softly as he imagined his mother, not the Piper from this time but the mother who had raised him until his fourteenth birthday, and how she'd look if she ever found out about this.

"And for _your_ family, too," Phoebe guessed. "All right. Why don't you like Leo?" Chris winced and looked away. Phoebe immediately reached out to touch his hand. "Never mind."

"You'll find out in time," he told her softly. "You'll find out everything in time."

"Time," Phoebe whispered, looking out over the water. It was steady that evening. Calm. It was unnatural, really. The tranquility of the water that night as the sun set beyond it. "The one thing I've learned about time is that it never stops moving forward, Chris. We can only move with it, even if we travel backwards to change it. I believe it can be changed. I see it change whenever I get premonitions." She glanced at Chris and smiled softly. "I don't know how comforting this is, Chris, but the only way I'm going to find out everything is if you tell me, because I'm going to change it. I promise you. You'll see in time. The future is not going to be what it was when you grew up."

Chris glanced at her and she could see the gratitude in his eyes. "I hope you're right."

She smiled. "Just Ask Phoebe. I'm always right." Her words brought a smile to his lips and he nodded.

"That's better," Phoebe stated, pushing herself gracefully to her feet. "Now, if you'll excuse me, Piper said she wanted to talk to me and Paige about something tonight. I need to get home."

Chris glanced up at her. "Are you moving to Hong Kong with Jason?"

Phoebe glanced down at him sideways. "In your time line, is that what I did?"

Chris shook his head.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know if I will or not. But if Piper and Paige let me, then I guess I have no choice. The future has to start changing somewhere, right?"

Chris nodded. Phoebe nodded as well.

"Don't stay out too late, Chris," she suggested before turning and walking back towards the city.

"I won't," Chris promised, looking back out over the water. As the sun set, he could still hear Bianca's voice.

"_Haven't we been here before?"_

"_Maybe we will be again."_

Chris nodded. "Maybe." To the west, the sun continued to set, and time continued to move forward.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO


End file.
